New Orleans Food Writer, Photographer and Cook, Publix Johnson, who spreads the good news of the red beans and rice, spreading the good news of the community, and who documenting the city’s only Mardi Grass traditions, on Sunday. Died He was 59 years old.
Mr Johnson’s sister Charlotte Aaron said he was photographing the second line parade-what he often did-when he had to face a cardiac arrest and could not be resurrected in the hospital.
Mr Johnson moved to New Orleans in 2001, and quickly became the one that local chef Frank Bergson called the “pleasant reality” in the city.
“He embraced New Orleans, and he embraced him back because he was very authentic,” Mr Brexiton said in an interview.
Mr Johnson’s many friendship – mainly everyone who met him – began with a bowl of red beans and rice, which was a traditional Monday meal in New Orleans. He cooked every week for a small group of friends, but soon for pilgrims from all over the country who loved the city’s food and culture.
The roaming group of its guests can include not only local musicians, famous chefs and incoming journalists but also a neighbor who needs a broken heart or a friend.
No phone was allowed, and the menu was never different from red beans and rice and corn bread, which contains sweet for dessert. The table was arranged with a pile of paper towels and a pile of spoons. The guests could bring something to drink but never eat.
The restrictions were partially following the simplicity of the food made on Monday as the city’s cooks were busy washing clothes. Extra dishes only make the whole thing very complicated. Mr Johnson will focus on the conversation instead.
“One of the things that is important about this table is that it was not my grandmother’s house dining table. It was a kitchen table,” Mr. Johnson said in 2017 Public Radio Show “The Excellent Table” I said “The fancy dining room table was not used every day, but he did it. It was a place where all the power was.
Jessica Harris, a scholar from African Daspura, who lives in New Orleans’s part -time, said Jessica Harris, a dinner, became an important bridge between cultures in the city and she was a regular guest.
“There are very few places in New Orleans where black and white are social in the house,” said Dr. Harris. “The happiness was that the table became a way to make the community, and that community was one that was in dire need of New Orleans, where there was a strange social color.”
On this occasion, guests will include members of the city’s historical social aid and happiness clubs, which were created as black societies to make health care and resources to meet funerals.
Most Sunday, one of the 40 clubs hosts a four -hour parade known as the second line, wearing the organizations purchased for this occasion and dances on the sound of a brass band.
His costumes, music and customs were a charming for Mr. Johnson, who regularly became a presence, thrown Johnny Cash Black with a camera on his shoulder. He also took pictures of widely dressed black masking Indians, also known as Mardi Grass Indian – a ridiculous piece of city community traditions that were born to help those who were deserted by Louisiana. I helped those who helped to avoid slavery.
A retired college Dean and documentary photographer, who was in his last minute with Mr Johnson, joined the second line of men’s men and men, with Mr. Johnson, Mary Grass Indian can be suspected of outdoor people and many Do not allow photographers to get closer.
He said in an interview, “People trusted him because he did not sell his photos.” “He respected his work, and he knew that if he needed anything from him, he could call.”
When someone died from this community, Mr Johnson was shown in the last rites with the expanded image of the man for the family.
In 2016, he made two documentary films about the culture of Black Masking Indians: “The soul guides my needle: the big chief of the carnival“And” ”This is your glory: Carnival’s Great Queens. Some of his photos were exhibited in galleries and museums across the country.
For these people, other lines of the night, also known as the Memorial procession, are usually specific to club members, musicians or Indians. But one was arranged for Mr Johnson on Monday, and more this week is coming.
“For this, after his treatment, after his treatment, after the night passed? Mr. Johnson’s reporter and a friend Katie Rakdahl said it was a spinal cord color.” It tells you that the city It was an integral part of the cultural community. “
Paul Michael Johnson was born on January 8, 1966 in Trenton, NJ in Hebert Blanco and Philip Johnson. By the time he was 7 years old, his parents divorced, and his mother, who had grown up in Baton Roose, had about 130 miles west of Pool and his two sisters to New Orleans. Transfer to New Avarya, La,. In 1988, he graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, where he studied history, religion and sociology.
His friendship with the people of the city’s Litino community played a vital role in the decision to convert his name into a publication-Spanish words for Pablo Paul, and “-Ox” respect the roots of his French Kejun.
After bouncing between San Francisco, Europe and Oxford, Miss, he arrived in Austin, Texas, where he worked as a freelance food writer for publications, including the New York Times, and gambo parties growing up to more than 100 guests. Started throwing.
Later he turned his New Orleans toe meal into a Red Bans Road Show, tied his car to ingredients and re -created in his restaurant in partnership with dozens of cities. –
During the holidays he used to store cheap Turkey in a freezer, which he turned into a gallon of Gombo, which he delivered, which earned the name of Gombo Claus.
He photographed most people’s delightful intimacy, which he met, disarmed the articles with a joke, or saying, “Consider me with your beard with a beard.” Many parents said that the pictures of their children were the best.
He wrote four books, including a food book in New Orleans, published just before the Hurricane Katrina. He was named one of the top 100 chefs in the United States through the website Epicorius, and when he was traveling or writing about Louisiana, he was the first call to many food journalists.
In addition to his sister Charlotte, then another sister, Allen Johnson, is also left. A half -brother, Tony Blanco; And its stepmother, Blanco, Felicia Sercy and Paul Blanco. His marriage to French ended in 2006 at the time of divorce.
He will also say that he has survived “his people”.
Dr. Harris was one of them.
“He will call and say, ‘I’m just checking my people. How are you doing?” He said. “People don’t do it anymore, just pick up the phone. But the Publix did. “
